Playing With Fire
by RisuMusume
Summary: If you play with fire, you're going to get burned, it's true, But what's to be done, when the fire is you? Judeau fic!
1. Ashes to ashes

Ok everyone, here's my story called "To Play With Fire". I'm actually going to have to give some credit to Elin1. If it weren't for her comment of not giving up on me, I probably would have left the Berserk category blissfully blank after removing my other story. Also, my favorite story by her is called "Hawk and Phoenix"…and that's a bit where I got the idea for this story. I'd been thinking for a couple of days about what story I could write with the quote I came up with—the quote I used for my summary—and when I got the e-mail saying she'd updated and then I read her comment, I came up with this idea. This story will be after the Berserk series, after everything in the last episode, so if anybody reading this doesn't know what happens at the end…this is the spoiler warning! Don't read this if you don't want to find out what happens! Thanks, lovelies! Here goes nothing! Elin1, this is for you! smiles

Summary: "If you play with fire, you're going to get burned," it's true. But what's to be done, when the fire is you? Judeau is still alive after the demons attack the Band of the Hawk for Griffin's sacrifice. There are, however, some interesting after-effects.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything by Elin1 _nor_ do I own Berserk. I am merely borrowing the characters from the series to play out my own misguided ideas.

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Prologue Ashes to Ashes (

Judeau's mind was in turmoil. He saw them dying and fighting. Gatts, Pippin, Corkus, Rickert! Rickert hadn't even been there! Why was he seeing him die at demonic hands? All of his memories increased the pain tenfold. He tried to shrug them off without thinking. He nearly howled as felt all of the wounds on his back reopen. The wounds he had gotten while protecting Caska. CASKA! Where was she? A sudden fear crept into the pit of his stomach at the thought of anything bad happening to her. If she had died... If she had died, he knew that he would never be able to forgive himself.

He contemplated trying to find everyone. He simply _couldn't_ believe they had died. Something told him that if he could find them all, they'd be laughing and drinking and telling him just how crazy he was to believe that any harm had befallen them. He just _knew_ that they'd all be alive and kicking…maybe even alive and kicking _something!_

Judeau tried to smile at that thought and attempted to force his body to move so he could find them and prove to himself that everything was just fine, but his body fought him. A searing pain ran through him and if he could have screamed, he would have. It felt as if fire was consuming him and it hurt like hell. His voice, however, wasn't cooperating anymore than the rest of his body. It seemed that his voice box had already been caught by the flames. A strangled moan escaped his slightly parted lips as the inferno claimed his whole body, beginning with the blood in his veins and moving outward and inward to completely consume him. Somewhere in his mind it registered that the strangled cry that emitted from his now-burning throat was the last sound that would be given from this feeble body and then all reason was lost as his mind attempted to understand the flames that were now devouring his flesh, bones, and blood and where they had come from. He thought he might have figured it out when a blinding flash of light went through his mind and he lost any and all of his thoughts.

On the ground where Judeau had lain, there was now a mound of ashes in the form of the former scout's body.

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Please, Please, _PLEASE _review! I know this seems to be really short and a bit harsh, but honestly...there's more coming. And don't worry, this is a Judeau fic...I won't leave it like this. If you don't like it, constructive criticism is welcomed...but no flat-out bashing of my writing. This is merely a sample of it, so please know that the story will progress. Thankies to all!

Elin1! Lovely writer who praises Judeau with me! Please, tell me what you think!


	2. Dust to flesh?

I might as well just make this whole fic dedication to Elin1….because I know that it will be because of her that I continue writing it…sighs Once again, this chapter is dedicated to Elin1! So, here goes.

Summary: "If you play with fire, you're going to get burned," it's true. But what's to be done, when the fire is you? Judeau is still alive after the demons attack the Band of the Hawk for Griffin's sacrifice. There are, however, some interesting after-effects.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything by Elin1 _nor_ do I own Berserk. I am merely borrowing the characters from the series to play out my own misguided ideas.

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Chapter One Dust to…flesh?

A gentle breeze picked up as the wards that had surrounded the Band of the Hawk as they had been sacrificed were lifted. The ashes were stirred slightly, but before there could be much done, the ashes had reformed into a body. This body was one that shivered as if at the loss of a sudden intimate contact. In fact, Judeau _had_ just suffered the loss of an intimate contact. The last thing he could remember was searing pain, and hot flames caressing his cut skin and now there was no heated embrace, no fire. All that he was left with was a fully intact body and a cold breeze playing across his completely naked body. His eyes shot open and he sat up. All of the things he had been thinking about before the fire erupted in and around him came rushing back to him.

"Caska!" Then he blinked and looked down at himself. He was almost shocked to find himself naked until he noticed that he was completely healed. The former Hawk was completely confused. "Wait a minute…why…what…I…" He shook his head and grabbed one of his daggers only to drop it with a hiss. "Gods!" He clutched the now-burned hand in the other one as he blew cold air over it. "What the…" His eyes widened. "This must have something to do with the fire…It just…_has_ to…"

He stood and looked around him, trying to decide what he could do to fix his unclothed status. Somewhere near him he found a cloak. He pulled in on and tightened it around himself before going back to examine his weapons. None had been damaged. He looked around himself and tried to find any signs of the battle that had taken place here, but there were none to be found.

"That's rather strange…"

He decided to wait until his weapons had cooled down enough to be handled before doing anything, so he sat down to think over what he could remember. The truth was that the flashes of what he'd been thinking about had grown foggy. He remembered everything perfectly…up until the day of the final stand of the Band of the Hawk as he knew it. He had random images in his mind of blood, fighting, deaths…but nothing he could pinpoint. Even as he saw people die he couldn't tell who was dying. He waved a hand near his weapons to see if the air nearby was still heated, but he found that they had cooled.

He carefully gathered them up and looked around once more. Judeau gave a sigh and made another decision: he would look around the area for a while and see if he could find any other survivors and then he would head back to where they had left Rickert and the other few who had not been at the battle. If it weren't for his scout sense of direction, he wouldn't even remember where that was, but as it was, he had that sense and knew that he could find the camp again.

Nodding, he set off with determination. His eyes, used to looking for enemies were quick to notice the other things remaining from the attack. He didn't find any people, but he found weapons. His sword was among them…and so was Caska's. He shuddered as he picked it up. He didn't like the fact that it was here and its owner was not, he did not like it one bit. He found various other artifacts belonging to Hawks, but nothing of Gatts'. He didn't understand at all what had happened, but after an hour more of searching fruitlessly, he made up his mind that it was time to go back to their last camp. Hopefully somebody there would have clothing of some sort that he could borrow and maybe later buy or trade for…

Turning in the direction he remembered the camp being, he set off, unsure of what was to come or what he would do when it came, but knowing he needed to be doing _something_.

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I'm hoping to begin making chapters longer, but this is what you guys get for today! Tell me what you think, the review button's down here somewhere... 


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